


kinda different to the girl-next-door

by cupcakeb



Series: Lubeka being THAT couple ™ [3]
Category: Elite (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Neighbors, F/F, because who doesn't like a good neighbors AU, the absolute hottest duo of neighbors of all time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-13
Updated: 2021-01-13
Packaged: 2021-03-14 15:47:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,945
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28673205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cupcakeb/pseuds/cupcakeb
Summary: This doesn’t normally happen to Lu. She doesn’t even let strangers buy her drinks at bars, and now she’s spent the past two hours in her new neighbor’s apartment, sitting on her couch in the middle of a room full of boxes.If she pushes back against her and lets herself lean into her touch, she’ll end up in bed with her in seconds, and she likes her apartment too much to have to move out when this stupid one night stand blows up in her face.
Relationships: Rebeca "Rebe" de Bormujo Ávalos/Lucrecia "Lu" Montesinos Hendrich
Series: Lubeka being THAT couple ™ [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2101437
Comments: 11
Kudos: 35





	kinda different to the girl-next-door

Lu usually tries not to be this type of person — the kind that hates their new neighbor before they’ve even had the chance to unpack all their boxes. She’s pretty sure she doesn’t even know any of her neighbors, actually. It’s a big, modern apartment complex in the center of Madrid; anyone who can afford to live here is too busy to befriend their neighbors.

Anyway — this new girl moves into the apartment right across the hall from her, and the very first thing she notices is the loud music this woman seems to be listening to at all hours of the day. They haven’t been introduced formally, but she saw her close the door behind herself right as Lu was leaving for work yesterday morning.  
  
(Does this person not have a _job?_ Who moves apartments on a Monday?)

Now it’s Tuesday evening, just after seven, and she can sense another dance party is about to start in apartment 12B. Her day at the office was terrible, because they all are lately, and you know what? Maybe Lu should go over and knock and welcome her new neighbor in style. Fuck this.

She’s still in her work outfit, though this skirt has always erred on the side of too short, and she’s glad; the sort of first impression she’s going for here is hot and intimidating. She wants Little Miss Billy Talent (is it 2006?) to know not to fuck with her going forward.  
  
She may be 31, but she’s still a bratty teenager at heart sometimes. It keeps her young.

When she raps her knuckles against the door opposite hers, she’s determined. Lu is great at animosity, and this won’t be any different. Well, that is until the door opens and an unreasonably attractive, tall brunette opens it, wearing nothing but a short robe.  
  
“Yes?”

The robe is somewhat untied, and Lu can tell she’s topless underneath, so it’s not really her fault if her eyes linger. The other woman smirks when their eyes meet again.

Lu stops dead in her tracks. She was expecting this to be a more formal chat. Luckily for her, she’s an excellent improviser, so she recovers quickly.

“Hi. Lucrecia Montesinos, 12A,” she points to the door behind her. “Welcome to the neighborhood.”

The woman laughs, and Lu finds herself struggling not to scowl. What’s so fucking funny?

“Uh, okay, hi. Rebeka,” the brunette extends her hand for Lu to shake, then looks at her like she’s making fun of her for actually shaking it. “You’ll have to wait until they accidentally put my mail in with yours to find out my last name.”

Lu isn’t quite sure what to say now — the weird introduction caught her off guard. She came here to bring up the loud music, but maybe that can wait. Before she can settle on a suitable reply, her neighbor — no, _Rebeka_ — checks her out shamelessly and grins as she goes to speak again.

“Hey, wanna come in for a drink? Whiskey’s always nicer with good company.”

Flattery will get you everywhere with Lu. It would probably be rude to say no.

***

“Okay yeah, that settles it — fuck your boss.”

Lu is on the couch next to Rebeka, each of them about three glasses of whiskey into the night. She’s got her legs crossed at her ankles, because this skirt is a little too tight to be comfortable, and right now she really envies Rebeka for her robe.  
  
(From what she’s seen, she also envies her for what’s underneath.)

“Ew. I definitely do _not_ want to fuck him.”

Rebeka chuckles as she puts a hand on Lu’s bare knee. God, this girl really doesn’t understand the concept of personal space. “I meant fuck him over. Just resign. If you’re as good of a salesperson as you claim to be, you’ll have another job by tomorrow.”

That’s actually not the worst idea, and Lu would be lying if she said she hadn’t considered it herself, but now is not the time to admit that. “Tech is a small industry. People talk. I can’t afford to burn any bridges, even if he’s driving me fucking insane.”

Rebeka shrugs, then pours them both another drink, and Lu takes a moment to take stock of the situation.

This doesn’t normally happen to her. She doesn’t even let strangers buy her drinks at bars, and now she’s spent the past two hours in her new neighbor’s apartment, sitting on her couch in the middle of a room full of boxes. What’s worse, Rebeka has somehow gotten her to tell her all about her work woes, while Lu still knows little to nothing about the girl. She’s frighteningly good at getting people to talk, that’s for sure.

“What do you do for a living?” Lu finally blurts out. She’s curious.

Rebeka grins. “I’m a behavioral therapist.”  
  
God, of course. Lu rolls her eyes.

“Fitting.”

“You think? What gave me away?”

What she wants to say is that she’s easy to talk to. But that would be lame, and too honest, and Lu likes competitive friendships, not this lovey-dovey bullshit. So she crosses her arms in front of her chest (yes, to make sure her cleavage looks good, and no, she refuses to think about _why_ she does it), then smirks at Rebeka and says, “You just seem like the type.”  
  
That was meant to be a backhanded compliment, but Rebeka just nods. Their eyes meet and Rebeka holds her gaze, not letting up. If Lu wasn’t tipsy, she probably wouldn’t let herself think about how much she wants to be kissing her loud, obnoxious neighbor right now.  
  
Finally, Rebeka crosses her legs, then takes a second too long to fix her robe so Lu catches a nice glimpse of her lacy black boy shorts. There is literally no way this stranger she just met does not want to sleep with her, Lu thinks, but a random hookup with her neighbor across the hall seems ill-advised.  
  
“Can I psychoanalyze you a little?”  
  
That snaps Lu out of her thoughts. Her jaw falls open just a little, and before she can feign offense — no, she won’t let a stranger mess her up by pretending to read her — she decides she’ll bite. “If you let me borrow a pair of sweatpants first. I need to get out of this fucking skirt.”  
  
She lives across the hall, so she could obviously just go change, but she kind of wants to see the rest of Rebeka’s apartment.  
  
Next to her, Rebeka nods, then winks at her. “Anything to get you out of that skirt, Barbie.”  
  
Is she— there is no way her new neighbor is just blatantly hitting on her. What the fuck is going on. Maybe she shouldn’t be drinking on a Tuesday. How did she let herself end up here?  
  
Rebeka gets up, then motions for Lu to follow her to what she assumes is her bedroom, and Lu laughs as she remarks on all the unpacked boxes along the way.  
  
“Only unpacked the essentials so far,” Rebeka says, opening the door to her closet, and Lu stifles a laugh. All but one of the shelves are completely empty, but the middle one is decked out in comfy leisurewear, a small pile of lingerie, and — Lu struggles to hide the blush creeping up her neck — a selection of small vibrators. “Have your pick.”  
  
Rebeka backs away, and Lu finds herself stubbornly staring straight ahead, trying to decide which sweatpants to go for. She settles on a navy blue pair, turns around and reaches for the zipper on her skirt. When she sees Rebeka from the corner of her eye, she stops in her tracks. The other woman is leaning back against the door, watching her with a little smirk on her face.  
  
“Fucking perv,” Lu deadpans, and wow, she has no idea where that came from. She’ll blame it on the alcohol. “Enjoying the show?”  
  
The other woman shrugs, looking unimpressed. “Nothing to see yet.”  
  
Challenging Lu is never the smartest call. She’s bad at backing away from a challenge. Right now she scoffs, then unzips her skirt and steps out of it, not giving Rebeka the satisfaction of looking away from her, even though she’s a tad out of her comfort zone. It’s fine; her ass is arguably one of her best features. The blue lace of her thong definitely does it justice. She steps into the pair of pants, then reaches for the zipper on her top — she’s got a tank on underneath — and whines when she can’t quite get it.  
  
“Need some help with that?”  
  
All Lu does in response is look back at Rebeka over her shoulder and run her tongue over her lip. In seconds, she’s right behind her, brushing Lu’s hair over her shoulder so she can pull her zipper down tantalizingly slowly. Then she motions for Lu to raise her arms, pulls the fabric over her head and rests a hand on her lower back. They’re both somewhat fully clothed if you want to count Rebeka’s robe, but this is still one of the most erotic things Lu has ever experienced. It’s just so… unexpectedly intimate.  
  
Maybe she’s been on her own for a little too long.  
  
“Not fair how you’re wearing shit underneath that thing,” Rebeka murmurs, and Lu doesn’t know what the fuck she’s meant to be doing here. If she pushes back against her and lets herself lean into her touch, she’ll end up in bed with her in seconds, and she likes her apartment too much to have to move out when this stupid one night stand blows up in her face.  
  
“Let’s go finish what we started,” she tells Rebeka, then walks away from her without giving her a chance to come up with any more crass things to say. She meant their drinks, obviously — they should finish their drinks. “You owe me that expert analysis of why I’m fucked in the head.”  
  
It’s hard to argue with Rebeka’s assessment of her after five glasses of whiskey on the rocks. There are worse labels than _girl with daddy issues_ , anyway.  
  
***

It’s fucking annoying, actually, this strange new friendship with Rebeka. (Well, she’s literally seen her once — maybe she shouldn’t call it a friendship quite yet.) Lu is constantly hyper-aware of the door across the hall opening and closing, and on more than one occasion after their night of drinking, she finds herself actually looking through the peephole to spy on her.

(What? If she’s gonna have people over, Lu wants to see if any of them are prettier than her. Just to make sure.)

She kept the pair of sweatpants from Tuesday, and she thinks that’s kind of a good excuse to talk to the girl again. You know, to return the clothes she borrowed. No other reason. She hasn’t spoken to her in four days, but it’s Saturday now and she hasn’t heard Rebeka leave the house yet today so she’s probably home.

There’s a knock on her door before she’s even finished getting dressed, and if she wasn’t so startled by it, she probably wouldn’t open the door wearing nothing but a pair of panties and a lacy little camisole.  
  
(Lu likes to dress up for herself. Being single doesn’t mean she shouldn’t make an effort, right? She certainly doesn’t think so.)

Nobody ever knocks on her door. It’s so out of the blue, she doesn’t even check who it is before she turns the lock and comes face to face with Rebeka, who is actually dressed for once. Jeans and a tank top — nothing particularly exciting — but Lu thinks she looks great anyway.

“Wow, okay,” Rebeka says, eyes scanning over her body, and Lu refuses to blush. The attention feels kind of flattering. “I was gonna ask if you’re up for dinner, but you look like you’ve spent all day in bed. Can I join?”

Jesus fucking Christ. Lu isn’t sure how to deal with her forward nature yet. Can she join her _in bed_? Is that seriously what she’s asking?

She will not allow herself to sound anything but confident. Grinning, she puts a hand on her hip and says, “Come in, I was just about to take a shower,” and definitely catches Rebeka looking at her as if she wants to join her in the shower, too.

Rebeka steps inside, then takes a look around and whistles. “How the other half lives... Maybe I should unpack some of my boxes, this is giving me serious apartment envy.”

Yeah, Lu is proud of her impeccable taste when it comes to interior design. She’s glad Rebeka likes her choices, especially because she recently re-decorated the living room.

When she’s done snooping around her bookshelves, Rebeka smirks at her. “Wanna show me your bedroom?”

“I’ll show you the door if you keep that up,” Lu replies. “At least buy me dinner first.”

Rebeka chuckles, clearly intrigued and gets out her phone. “What’ll it be, Princess? On me.”

Lu had a craving for Thai food from that hip Asian fusion place around the corner anyway. She walks over and steals the phone from Rebeka’s grasp, then finds the restaurant on UberEats and picks out her usual order. “Hope you like it hot.”

Why is she flirting with her neighbor? What is she doing here? God, she needs to find new hobbies.

“I love all things spicy,” Rebeka replies, her fingers brushing Lu’s wrist as she grabs her phone back. “Let’s see if your taste in food is as good as your taste in lingerie.”

They engage in a little bit of a staring match then, neither of them willing to be the first to look away. That’s probably her cue to get dressed. De-escalating the situation sounds wise. She tells her she’ll be right back, then disappears into her bedroom and the first thing she sees is the pair of sweatpants she was gonna return to Rebeka today. There’s something about the idea of wearing Rebeka’s clothes as the other girl contemplates taking them off of her that Lu finds incredibly arousing.

She steps into the pair of pants, then grabs a simple white shirt from her closet and ignores the fact that she isn’t wearing a bra. Her chest isn’t big enough to always warrant that sort of support, anyway.

When she walks back out into the living room, Rebeka’s eyes linger on her legs, then on her chest. “Fucking tease,” she tells her, and Lu rolls her eyes. Maybe the white shirt shows off her nipples a little; so what?

By the end of the night, she’s got Rebeka’s number, permission to call her Rebe (she’s not sure she’s a fan of that nickname) and she’s pretty sure she’s going to actually die if she doesn’t sleep with her soon.

Even her vibrator can’t make the dull ache between her legs go away.

***

Lu hasn’t slept with a woman since _college_. The last time she remembers she was 23, or maybe 24, and just finishing up her MBA. She kind of wonders if she still knows how the mechanics of it all work.

She’s never made a big deal about her sexuality. Growing up, she was surrounded by plenty of very attractive girls, and the thought of denying herself the chance to lust after them and picture them naked never occurred to Lu. Life is hard enough — why deprive yourself of things that bring you joy and the occasional orgasm?

But she’s never been pursued like this, not by a woman. She’s never wanted to actually do more than sleep with a woman — with Rebeka, she gets the sense that just one time would never be enough.

She thinks that’s why she says what she says when they’re in the rooftop pool of their building one Saturday morning, catching some rays. Rebeka is wearing a simple green two-piece, her legs are unfairly long and her abs are defined and... Lu wants her too much. It’s never a good sign when Lu gets invested in wanting things.

“I think we should keep this flirtationship strictly platonic,” she says, her cheeks flushed as Rebeka boxes her in against the wall of the pool.   
  
Rebeka laughs at her choice of words.

Lu's black one-piece is rather revealing, a choice which paid off when Rebe spent a solid five minutes staring at her cleavage earlier, but now that they’re almost touching, she feels a little too naked.

“Are you hearing yourself right now?”

Rebeka’s got a smug look on her face — what else is new — and Lu isn’t sure how to get out of this situation without losing either her dignity or her clothes. Then her hand goes out to trace the outline of her collarbone, her fingers moving over to the strap of her bathing suit and slipping under the material and... Lu struggles to breathe for a second.

It’s the challenge in Rebeka’s eyes that makes her do it. Lu’s sense of competitiveness really does border on unhealthy; her therapist is right. But anyway, she watches Rebeka issue an unspoken challenge and struggles to remember that she just said they shouldn’t do this. Now she just wants to win this thing.

“You clearly didn’t hear _me_.”

Lu clasps her hands behind Rebeka’s neck, so now they’re even closer than before, breathing the same air. It’s a pretty stupid idea, but maybe she deserves this.

“Oh, I heard you alright, Barbie. I just think you don’t know what you’re saying.”

That pisses her off. Of course she knows what she’s saying. She’s very good at getting her point across.

She eyes Rebeka, then leans up on her tiptoes (Christ, she’s tall) and whispers, “Shut the fuck up,” right before she presses her lips to hers.

They make out in the pool like horny teenagers for at least fifteen minutes, at which point Lu realizes any of their other neighbors could just walk in on them like this and decides they should probably go downstairs. She tells Rebeka as much.

“Nah,” Rebe says, palming Lu’s breast through the fabric of her swimsuit. “It’s a nice day, I wanna be out in the sun.”

Lu huffs out a disappointed sigh. It’s probably a good thing since this means she won’t actually sleep with her neighbor but still. She kind of wanted to.  
  
Turns out Rebeka has other plans. She leans in to kiss her again, then slides the straps of Lu’s one-piece off her shoulders, and Lu is too turned on to scold her. She hopes no one from facility management — it’s a fancy building with 24-hour service — will catch them like this.

God, she’s half-naked in the communal pool of her building. She has no idea how Rebeka talked her into this. (Fine, maybe Lu didn’t need much convincing.)

“So much for a platonic _flirtationship_ ,” Rebeka snickers, then moves her hand lower and Lu whines with impatience. “Do you do this with all your friends?”

Lu doesn’t reply. She’s pretty sure Rebeka didn’t want a real answer.

***

Rebeka is smart. When Lu hears her close the door behind herself the next morning, she’s briefly worried this was the sort of dirty one night stand she thought it might be, except Rebe is back a few minutes later, holding a box of Chinese food.

“Had some leftovers from Friday night in the fridge. You want some?”

Lu snorts, then pulls the covers up around her shoulder. She’s too naked for this to turn into a real conversation. “It’s nine in the morning.”

“Never a bad time for shitty comfort food,” Rebeka shrugs. She sits down next to Lu, pulls back the covers and digs into a box of what looks like lo mein. Is she eating cold noodles in bed? Gross. “Come on, you must be hungry.”

They didn’t have dinner last night. She lost count about three orgasms in, and her body wasn’t exactly capable of wandering off to find any sort of nutritious meal after. But Rebeka is still only wearing a loose shirt and underwear, so Lu can’t really focus on the deep rumbling in her stomach.

“I’m not hungry for food,” she tells her, then watches Rebeka smirk when she realizes what she’s implying. Lu moves over so she’s straddling her, then scoots further back so she can play with the bottom of Rebeka’s shirt. “But feel free to keep eating.”

It feels a little bit like a victory when Rebeka instantly abandons the carton of Chinese food on the nightstand and pulls her up for a kiss instead.

“You’re really bad at this whole platonic thing,” she whispers against Lu’s cheek, her fingers skating over Lu’s hipbones. Lu lets out a whine.

She shakes her head and smirks. “Maybe I just have really great friends.”

Rebeka says something about her being too much of a bitch to have great friends, and Lu retaliates by thrusting two fingers into her without warning, and yeah, alright, this she can do. Competitive, bossy people are her favorite kind to deal with.

“Tell me I’m good.”

She’s straddling Rebe’s thighs, her lips inches from where she knows Rebe must want them most, and she leans in for a cursory lick to get her to moan out her name.

“Shit, L, of course you are. You’re fucking great.”

That’s all the encouragement she needed to hear.

She makes her come so hard, Rebeka forgets to tease her about her little praise kink, so chances are the praise was warranted anyway.

***

There isn’t a single night for all of the week following their rooftop pool adventure where Lu ends up sleeping alone. After work, she’s either over at Rebeka’s within minutes, or Rebeka will come knocking on her door.

At two in the morning on a Wednesday — fuck, work is gonna suck tomorrow — Rebeka is spooning her, her hand drawing random patterns on Lu’s stomach. They both know they need to sleep, but time together still feels precious and exciting and new, and these quiet moments in the middle of the night are extra special. When they’re more awake, they usually get so bogged down with physical exertion, they don’t talk much. Lu loves their little late-night conversations.

“We should go down to my mom’s place in Valencia sometime. Take advantage of the private beach.”

She doesn’t miss the implication behind that — a private beach to be as naked as they want at — but there’s a different tidbit that catches her off guard.

“You want to introduce me to your mother?" She scoffs jokingly, and Rebeka pinches her hip in retaliation. "Clingy much? And they say romance is dead.”

Rebeka tightens her arm around her waist.

“Yeah, I think I’ll keep you around.”

It figures that this is how her abrasive yet oddly charming new — girlfriend? fling? sexual partner? — would bring up labels.

Labels are a big deal to Lu. She craves them, deep down, because they come with a sense of security; a returns policy if things go awry. You’re entitled to mope and cry if a girlfriend breaks up with you — if a casual fling stops answering your texts, you’re not allowed to grieve.

But this is different. This whole thing with Rebeka is something else entirely — Lu can't quite put her finger on that. She trusts her enough to know she won’t just leave.  
  
(Maybe that's stupid of her, maybe she'll end up regretting it, but for now, it feels right.)

“Works for me,” Lu says, then closes her eyes and lets herself smile a little.

She'll give it a month before they move Rebeka's boxes into her place instead. It's more economical. 

**Author's Note:**

> find me [on tumblr](http://cupcakeb.tumblr.com/)


End file.
